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Now the nights have begun to get darker, colder and gloomier, Cleo and I have been prone to wrapping ourselves up on the sofa, putting on the fire and snuggling beneath the blankets.
Since being saved from the rogues I've been stupidly attached to Cleo like any given second she could be ripped from my life and I'd never see her again. I wanted to spend almost every given second with her, as much as I could anyway.
Going to the toilet and having some alone time with the boys was an exception but every time my mind wanders straight back to her. Just like a magnet that cannot be forced away, like two stars in the galaxy which are destined to collide or we'll die without each other.
I'm convinced Cleo feels the same because when we have time apart, neither of us look or seem happy about it. But we know that it's good for us, good for our relationship.
But tonight was my night with Cleo, no disruptions from the rest of the pack. The living room is off limits for us and only us. The warmth of the fire doesn't stop us from being wrapped up in each other's arms, even though Cleo's body is the temperature of the sun but I won't pull away for a moment.
Cleo picked the movie and I went with it. I'm not really a film sort of person but whatever she wants to watch, I'm happy to go along with it. I love to experience what she likes and enjoys, I feel a little bit closer with her each time I learn something I didn't know before.
The credits of the movie begin to roll and I'm almost gutted it's over, I liked it more than I thought. Cleo pushes herself up from my body and rotates her head towards me, a lazy smile plastered across her lips.
"What did you think?"
"I like your movie choices," I admit as I push back some of her chestnut brown hair. "A lot."
Cleo beams at me and presses a kiss to my cheek. "I'm so glad, I thought you'd hate that one. But it's one of my favourites."
I replicate her smile and continue to stroke through her strands of hair. "I'll remember that then."
"Want to watch another?"
She reaches for the remote but I grab her wrist and her attention is instantly turned to me. Her lashes brush her cheek as she blinks and studies my face, waiting for me to speak.
"Actually," I clear my throat and shift on the sofa. "I thought that we could talk."
"Okay," she moves onto her knees beside me. "About what?"
I drop my hand to her knee and trace shapes with my thumb. "I know you kind of told me about what happened the day we woke up and some parts after but we haven't spoken about it at all since. And I thought now it's been a few weeks, I think I can handle all the other details. I want to know more about what happened."
Cleo's perfectly pink lips part and she flicks her eyes between mine. "Sure," her voice is quiet. "If that's what you want."
My head nods and I give her knee a squeeze. "I do, if that's okay with you? I just want to know what happened, every little detail. Especially with you and Nella, when you said she did a spell and you could see me. You skipped over that part pretty quick."
Her eyes lower to the sofa and she sighs. "Yeah, we can talk about it."
I raise a hand to her cheek and cup her face softly. "We don't have to if it's going to upset you."
"No," she shakes her head. "It's okay. If you want to know what happened then I'll tell you everything."
"Okay," I say quietly as Cleo gets comfortable on her knees and faces me.
I keep my hand on her, watching carefully and waiting patiently. Cleo's throat clenches and she inhales slowly, her eyes flicking over the room slowly. Collecting her thoughts.
"So you'd been gone a few days and we had already split up the pack into small groups and searched specific areas we marked on a map," she starts. "But we couldn't find anything and it was starting to stress me out. I'd be out with both groups and it wasn't until Mace and Nella told me I needed rest before I made myself ill."
"As they should," my voice cuts across hers and she looks towards me. "They're good people for doing that, for protecting you."
Cleo purses her lips and then turns her head to the sparking fire. "But I couldn't rest knowing you were hurt, gone, even dead. When I was laying around resting, I could have been out looking for you."
"Not when you're exhausted and have no energy left in your body," I find my brows pinching together.
"I know, that's what they kept telling me. To rest and eat so I could get my energy levels back up, so I could perform to my best," Cleo's face pulls together tightly. "But that didn't stop me from feeling guilty, I felt sick. All the time and I couldn't bear the idea of doing nothing."
My back pushes against the back of the sofa and I manoeuvre my body, holding onto Cleo's hand gently. Swiping my thumb across her soft skin, making sure that she knows that I'm here.
"That's when Nella suggested we try what Diamond did to me to find out Pandora's location," she swallows cautiously. "Diamond gave Nella a book to help with the Guidant's Locket and she stumbled across what Diamond did to me, she said that we could try it because we're bound by the heart due to our bond and it should work."
Cleo brushes her hair from her face and pauses for a second. "It's okay," I whisper. "Take your time."
"So we went to the stone gazebo and practised there. Nella kept warning me that it's going to hurt like last time and as she's not experienced, she's not sure it'll even work. But at that point we had to try, we had to try everything," her lips move slowly. "So I knelt down and she engaged my mind, at first I felt a presence, nothing more."
She raises her chest and breathes deeply, wanting to carry on but needing a moment for herself to think. "Then she turned up her powers and suddenly everything hurt, so badly. Worse than Diamond but I was going to deal with it because I had to find out where you were."
A pain pricks my heart at the thought of Cleo being in agony. I raise her hand to my lips and leave a soft kiss, beyond words.
"And then I saw you, I got the tiniest glimpse of you. I wasn't expecting to see you, I was convinced it would be Nella but she couldn't see you. It must be to do with our bond but I told her to keep going, turn up the magic. The image of you was blurry but I wasn't going to give up no matter how much it hurt." Cleo's voice cracks slightly but there is a determined tone behind her words.
"Then I saw you, I saw what they were doing to you," her eyes glass over with tears but she doesn't let them fall. "I saw them lashing you, I saw them pour freezing water over you. I saw you struggle. It fucking broke me."
"Oh baby," the words fall from my lips too quickly and I kiss her hand over and over.
"I saw the clock tower, out of the window. It was so distinctive it was one of the only things I remembered other than seeing you like that. By the time I came around, Nella was changing my name. Blood was everywhere," her throat bobs and I frown.
"Blood?"
"My eyes, my nose, my mouth. It wasn't like with Diamond where it was a little bit, there were pools of blood around me. Smeared in my eyes, I was so dazed I could barely think and Nella had to force words out of me."
"Cleo," I whisper, raising a hand to wipe a tear that had escaped her eyes.
She looks down to the sofa and her lips tremble. "Nella managed to coax some information out of me because I was just in total shock. So I told her about seeing the clock tower and she instantly told Mace and they got onto the internet to find any building or warehouse near a clocktower."
"Do you know how fucking smart that was?" I clutch her face between my hands.
Cleo shakes her head and wipes her nose. "Not really, I thought it was common sense."
"You think that but after seeing what happened to me, what state I was in and still managing to think about the scenery. That is some strong minded shit, Cleo. You are so fucking smart and determined." I whisper as she continues to cry.
I wipe away every tear and I know Cleo is grateful for it. She doesn't want to cry and if I brush away the tears, it's like it never happened. I can pretend I didn't see them, for her sake. If it makes her feel better.
"I did what I had to do," she mumbles back.
"Please tell me you rested after that," there is worry in my voice.
When Cleo nods there is a quick exhale of relief. "Nella made me, whilst Mace and Alfie searched for this clock tower. I was physically exhausted but if they found the clock tower within a few minutes, I would have been going with them without a second thought."
I frown and drop one of my hands, with the other I tuck her hair behind her ear. "I hate that you neglected your needs, Cleo. That fucking burns me to the core. I know that you needed rest, you needed food. Of course I wasn't expecting you to be out every second looking for me, that wouldn't be healthy for you. At all, and I want what's best for you."
"But resting definitely wasn't what was best for you."
"If you think neglecting yourself was good for me in any way then you're wrong," I tilt my head slightly towards her. "So fucking wrong, Cleo."
"But you weren't here to tell me that."
I shake my head and sit up, pressing our chests together. "I don't need to be here to tell you what you already know," I whisper and caress the back of her hair. "Would you expect me to neglect myself if the shoe was on the other foot?"
Cleo stares back into my eyes and sighs. "No of course I wouldn't, I'd hate that."
"Exactly, so how do you expect me to be okay with hearing about what you were doing to yourself?"
"I just wanted to be back with you," she nuzzles her head into mine. "I didn't want to wait for another second."
I press a delicate kiss to her chin and nod. "I know you did."
"Mace and Alfie found the clock tower pretty easily and we went out in the next hour. We found the building you were being kept in, Nella and the witches protected us with their powers and our scents so that we couldn't be sussed out," Cleo carries on and I drop my hand to circle her wrist.
"Everett came inside with me whilst everyone was on standby, we managed to slip in without being caught and then I dragged you out with Everett. Then a rogue shouted from the top of the building and we tried to get away," her voice grows louder.
I shuffle to sit taller, intrigued with the story. "We're trying to carry you away when an arrow is shot straight through my ankle," she explains and my eyes shoot wide.
What the fuck... I had no idea this happened.
"I remember falling to the floor in agony and Everett held you up, he tried to help me but I screamed at him to take you away. To take you home before anything else happened and I've never been more grateful that he listened," Cleo nods back at me firmly.
My lips part as I listen with anticipation. "I pulled the arrow from my ankle and then Parker started taunting me," the sound of his name from her lips made my blood turn to ice. "He threatened me and started saying all this shit, we scuffled and he had me on the floor. He almost killed me by strangling me."
"What... Cleo," my throat strains but she shakes her head.
"But then I swiped a pair of cutters from the back of my waistband and I dug them straight into his leg," she pauses to take a breath. "He released my throat for a split second and I took them out of his leg and stuck them into his neck multiple times. Hit a vital artery instantly, blood went everywhere."
My fingers twitch around her wrist but she's no longer crying, she's proud of what she did to save me.
"After that I remember nothing, I must have passed out because the next thing I knew I was in the infirmary on one of the beds. Desperate to find out where you were, I had to see you. I had to just touch you, be close to you."
I flick my eyes frantically between hers, chest tight from her words.
Her courage, her braveness and her utter determination will never go unnoticed. Never in my eyes. I will always kiss the floor she walks on because she is like no other.
I grab her face again and pull her closer, kissing her deeply. She sighs in shock but relaxes into the kiss.
"Marry me," I murmur against her mouth.
Her green eyes pop open in shock and she pulls away. "What?"
"Please," I pant holding her close again. "Please just fucking marry me, Cleo. Make me the happiest man alive and marry me"
Cleo's chest quivers, in shock. I am too but then she cracks her mouth into a breathtaking smile, a soft laugh and she pushes her lips back to mine. Peppering kisses against me.
"Yes," she whimpers with an eager nod. "Yes, I'll marry you. Any day. I'd marry you right now."
Her smile is infectious and I can't fight my own, or the tightness of my heart. Oh how loved she makes me feel, how much happiness there is inside my body right now.
My mind races with a million thoughts but all I can think is that I want Cleo to be my wife more than anything.
"I'm sorry there is no ring," I say after a few moments. "It was a very spontaneous idea."
Cleo grins and nudges my forehead with hers. "I gathered but I liked it. A lot."
"I'm so pleased you said yes," I exhale a sharp breath of relief.
"Why?"
"You might have said no, it's not very romantic."
"I thought it was," she draws circles on the back of my neck. "It was intimate and personal. We don't need big displays of affection and materialisation to represent our love. All we need is us and a deep fucking conversation."
My laugh ripples through the room and Cleo joins in. "I agree," I nod slowly. "All we need is us and no one else's input."
"Sure do, my future husband."
I grip her waist and pull her into me, listening to her little squeal sets my heart on fire.
The rest of our lives are going to be the best yet.
. . .
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Hello my loves. What did you think about this adorable chapter?🥰🥰
Spontaneous marriage proposal??? Yes I will take it😭
Ugh these two cannot be topped, I love them so fucking much it hurts
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